Read our pick of African news from the news agencies 10.02.14

Burundi - FloodsAt least 50 people in Burundi have died due to torrential rains and landslides, officials in the central African country said on Monday. The Burundi Red Cross later said the number of dead had climbed to 67. The rains, which started on Sunday night and caused flooding in northern areas outside the capital Bujumbura, also injured scores of people. Witnesses said huge boulders tumbling down hills in the middle of the night destroyed entire houses. Water and mud flooding down from hills outside the city have washed away hundreds of houses, according to police. Roads and crops have also been destroyed. Bujumbura is on a plain that lies between a range of hills and Lake Tanganyika. Photo: Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza BANGUI - PoliticianGunmen murdered a politician outside his house in Central African Republic's capital overnight, officials said. No group claimed responsibility for killing Jean-Emmanuel Djarawa a day after he made a speech denouncing recent violence and calling for Christian militias to be confined to barracks. Attackers followed Djarawa, a Christian representative for eastern Haute-Kotto province, and shot him several times near his house in northern Bangui on Sunday night, said government officials. Central African Republic descended into chaos after mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in March last year and embarked on a 10-month reign of terror marked by looting, torture and murder. Since the departure of Seleka head and interim President Michel Djotodia in January under international pressure, Christian militias have stepped up revenge attacks against Muslims. Violence has killed thousands and left about a quarter of Bangui's population homeless.

MOROCCO-MIGRANTSHuman Rights Watch has criticized Morocco for the continued abuse of sub-Saharan migrants despite the announcement of a more humanitarian immigration policy. The report released by the New York-based rights group Monday focused on migrants seeking to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Morocco's coast. The report said abuses occur when security forces arrested migrants, and it blamed Spanish forces for excessive force. Morocco announced a new immigration policy in September that would involve greater respect for human rights and include the option of residency for some migrants. There are an estimated 25,000 sub-Saharan Africans living illegally in Morocco, most hoping to go to Europe. Seven migrants drowned Thursday while trying to swim around security forces blocking their way to Melilla.CNGO - TRIAL OF REBEL LEADER Judges at the International Criminal Court began hearing arguments Monday about whether to put Bosco Ntaganda, a former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo on trial. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda accused Ntaganda, nicknamed ``The Terminator'' for his ruthlessness, of 13 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for acts including murder, rape, and persecution and recruiting child soldiers. Ntaganda's lawyers say he is innocent, though he has yet to enter a formal plea. His lawyers are to respond later Monday. Ntaganda's alleged crimes took place in 2002-2003 in Ituri, an unstable region in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where he served as a top leader in the Union of Congolese Patriots under Thomas Lubanga. Lubanga in 2012 became the first person to be convicted at the ICC, for conscripting child soldiers. He is appealing a 14-year sentence. Bensouda described the testimony of one woman from the Lendu tribe, the frequent target of attacks by Union soldiers who were often from the Hema tribe. He said the woman was raped repeatedly and told ``you are not human beings and in three days we will finish you all.'' Ntaganda was indicted in 2006 but took command of the M23 militia after Lubanga's departure. He was only brought to the court in The Hague, Netherlands, last year after his group splintered and he fled to neighboring Rwanda. He took refuge in the U.S. embassy before being deported.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) _ Negotiators for two warring parties in South Sudan are scheduled to return to peace talks two weeks after agreeing to a cease-fire the executive secretary of a regional bloc known as IGAD, told Ethiopian state TV. Ambassador Mahboub Maalim said the second round of talks is expected to focus on political dialogue and national reconciliation. A political struggle in South Sudan which began in mid-December, turned into a nationwide warfare between troops loyal to the government and those loyal to the country's former vice president. Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. Political prisoners loyal to the former vice president were released to Kenya's government. It was not clear if those seven men would be allowed to travel to the peace talks.